The court that judges Commissioner José Manuel Villarejo and part of his clients and alleged partners these days at the National Court has decided to suspend the procedure for one of the main defendants, Commissioner Enrique García Castaño, former head of the Central Operational Support Unit of the National Police, due to illness.
García Castaño suffered a stroke the first weekend of May when he was in the province of Cáceres. He was admitted to the emergency room in a very serious condition, sources around him reported to ABC. He came to fear for his life.
After several days under observation, when the oral hearing resumed, which began in October and will continue until at least September, his lawyer, Aitor Martínez, asked the court to send a forensic examiner to examine him since he understood that in his state of health he was not fit to be able not only to follow the trial sessions -he has attended all of them since it began- but also to be able to stand trial.
The coroner initially certified the seriousness of the ailment and as explained on Tuesday by the president of the court, Ángela Murillo, she has issued an extension of that report in which she states that she will not be able to evaluate the consequences of it on García Castaño until at least after a period of six months.
That is why the court has decided to suspend the trial as far as he is concerned, while it continues with regard to the rest of the defendants, among whom are Villarejo, the lawyer for his companies Rafael Redondo, clients such as the Muñoz brothers or the heiress of Procisa, Susana García Cereceda, and other police officers, such as Constancio Riaño.
García Castaño faced in this procedure, which is followed by three separate pieces of the macro-cause around Villarejo, something more than 82 years in prison. He is accused of having provided the commissioner's network, and in exchange for a price, with data from police databases and other confidential information that he later commercialized in his reports for clients. He has always denied having anything to do with that matter.
